wenglor develops and manufactures innovative sensors for international customers in Tettnang, Germany. Sales engineers demonstrate to their customers just how flexibly the sensors can be used. Gloss and Color Sensors, Print Mark Sensors and a Reflex Sensor for Measuring Tasks prove that they’ve got what it takes in coffee pad filling systems designed and manufactured by Optima Group Consumer.
The Optima Group offers industry oriented packaging and filling machines for the pharmaceuticals, consumer (foods, chemicals, air and water filters, cosmetics) and non-wovens sectors (paper hygiene). The internationally active, mid-sized family company headquartered in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany, produces the Optima and S.F. Vision brand names, amongst others. The systems dose and package liquid and dry foodstuffs, and fill them into containers: from low viscosity to paste-like, as well as powders and granulates, and chunky and flaky products. They’re considered especially reliable, accurate and high performance. Whether semi-automatic individual or fully automated monobloc machines are involved, right on up to complete turnkey production lines, Optima Group Consumer provides solutions which are custom tailored to the customer’s needs.
wenglor sensors from Tettnang on Lake Constance are installed into all of these systems. They assure smooth operations during the coffee pad filling process. Design engineer Waldemar Salwasser was convinced by the user-friendliness and functionality of wenglor’s sensors. “When we decided to use Gloss Sensors several years ago, wenglor was the only manufacturer who offered them”, says the engineer. The wenglor Color Sensor had a number of competitors, but it’s distinguished by a compact format which is only available from Tettnang. wenglor sales engineer Matthias Roski knows how his products work, and provides Optima with active support as a reliable partner. And thus it was possible for the Print Mark Sensors and the Reflex Sensor for Measuring Tasks to reliably take over difficult jobs within the system, and to assert themselves against the competition.
Reliable Monitoring of the Filling Process
Optima’s systems are comprised of modules and are matched to individual customer requirements. The little round plastic cups which are later filled with coffee or tea powder are set into cavities via a magazine in the CFL2 machine. Filters are then added if required. The next module doses the coffee or other foodstuff into the cups via a funnel. The tricky part for sales engineer Matthias Roski involved regulating the quantity of coffee in the funnel with a wenglor sensor, and thus being able to assure that there’s always enough powder in the filling funnel. “Thanks to the CMOS line array in the CP35 Reflex Sensor for Measuring Tasks, I found a solution for the application”, he explains. The Reflex Sensor measures the fill-level and regulates it autonomously. It functions in accordance with the principal of angular measurement. For this reason, the object’s color, shape and surface characteristics have practically no influence on measurement results. The output signal of the Reflex Sensor with CMOS line array technology is practically independent of brightness, color and surface characteristics of the object to be measured. The measured value can be read out as a voltage value within a range of 0 to 10 V, as a current value within a range of 4 to 20 mA, or in digital format via the RS-232 interface. A rising or falling characteristic curve can be selected. High speed, speed mode or the high resolution mode can be selected as required. Teach-in, filter functions, an error output and an RS-232 port are included. The measuring range can be selected individually within the sensor’s working range.
When the product is filled into the cups, aroma can be added via the liquid dosing unit if desired. The cups are then advanced to the foil unrolling module, where they’re sealed with a glossy foil. The wenglor Print Mark Sensor detects the position of the foil and reads out a signal as soon as the foil is located at the right position for stamping and application to the cups. And thus the round lids sit firmly on the cups. The sensors have been specially designed to recognize printed markings. They have a very small spot, and use a white light LED with long service life. Only one sensor is required for the recognition of all color combinations, as well as differences in brightness between printed markings and the background.
The foil which comes from the unrolling module is one single piece, but it may be comprised of several individual foils which are joined by a blank foil. This unprinted joining foil is either red, green or white. These colors are taught in in advance and detected by the wenglor Color Sensor, which prevents the joining foil from being stamped onto the cups by generating a switching signal. The color combinations can be individually defined, and the type of white light source can be selected as required.
wenglor Gloss Sensors then check to make sure that each cup has a foil lid before it leaves the system. Gloss Sensors are capable of differentiating between surfaces with glossy and matte finishes. Due to the fact that the foil lids are glossy, this type of sensor is ideally suited for the application. The degree of gloss is adjustable and is nearly independent of distance.
The coffee pads are then automatically weighed. If they fulfill all of the specified criteria they leave the machine, otherwise they’re sorted out. 400 pads are produced per minute in this way.
Family Companies have a Grip on Things
wenglor is an extremely innovative high-tech company with headquarters in one of Germany’s most beautiful regions, namely Lake Constance. wenglor stands for innovative products including Photoelectric Sensors, Inductive Proximity Switches, ID Products and safety Technology. As a healthy mid-sized company, wenglor is still closely linked to the entrepreneurial personalities of the Baur family. Company founder Dieter Baur has been steering wenglor along its impressive road to success for 25 years. In 2007, his son Fabian Baur took over his share of the responsibility for the continuation of wenglor’s success story. More than 500 wenglor employees in 43 countries serve over 50,000 customers around the world. Increasing sales figures and extraordinary growth in employee numbers distinguish wenglor. Despite strong expansion, wenglor still attaches importance to permanence, job security, quick decision making and flexibility.
The Optima Group has also been distinguished by continuous growth since its founding in 1922. With more than 1200 employees around the globe, the company has intentionally retained its flexibility and closeness to the customer as central attributes. Machines produced by the Optima Group are in demand all over the world: At the same time, the fact that 80% of their products are exported confirms the high degree of innovation demonstrated by their machinery solutions. Globalization of international commerce provides in particular technology leaders in the packaging industry with further opportunities for growth, which are being taken advantage of consistently by the Optima Group. Today, the Optima Group has international branch offices in the USA, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, England, France, Italy and China.